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2016

Ironman Frankfurt 2016 – Analyzing Results

Race Conditions

After last year’s record heat, this year the conditions were much colder and included some showers on the run that probably helped those that were running fast. Both Sebastian Kienle and Andi Boecherer ran new marathon PRs in their battle for the win and Will Clarke was able to post a new run course record – his 2:42:08 beat Timo Bracht’s time from 2008.

Overall conditions were fast as is typical for Frankfurt (adjustment of 12:48 leading to a new course rating of 11:58). This year the biggest impact on the race was probably the swim. With an official temperature of 22.6°C it was decided to not allow wetsuits, but a lot of Pros were battling hypothermia, most notable Daniela Ryf who was forced to DNF early on the bike. 

Male Race Results

The Top 3 finishers came off the bike together, but Eneko Llanos quickly lost contact to Sebastian Kienle and Andi Böcherer who ran shoulder-to-shoulder for some time. Sebi was slowly able to move away and build a small lead, but towards the end Andi put in another effort but couldn’t quite close the gap. Eneko struggled in the second and third loop and lost third place to Marko Albert, but a strong last lap allowed him to grab the last spot on the podium.

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to expected Prize Money
1 Sebastian Kienle GER 00:52:12 04:12:12 02:44:12 07:52:43 -12:34 US$ 30000
2 Andi Boecherer GER 00:48:41 04:15:27 02:45:02 07:53:40 -27:07 US$ 15000
3 Eneko Llanos ESP 00:49:11 04:15:21 03:00:33 08:09:08 -02:26 US$ 8000
4 Marko Albert EST 00:48:12 04:22:04 02:57:33 08:11:38 -12:55 US$ 6500
5 Will Clarke GBR 00:52:17 04:36:01 02:42:08 08:14:56 -32:18 US$ 5000
6 Christian Kramer GER 00:48:34 04:32:35 02:51:44 08:18:14 -08:40 US$ 3500
7 Denis Chevrot FRA 00:48:14 04:39:39 02:47:33 08:19:59 -05:07 US$ 2500
8 Bertrand Billard FRA 00:52:15 04:35:49 02:53:58 08:26:27 -20:00 US$ 2000
9 Marc Duelsen GER 00:54:23 04:34:23 02:53:32 08:26:59 03:21 US$ 1500
10 Johann Ackermann GER 00:48:25 04:31:09 03:06:41 08:31:06 05:42 US$ 1000
11 Alexander Schilling GER 00:48:34 04:41:33 03:00:49 08:35:08 n/a  
12 Jeremy Jurkiewicz FRA 00:52:10 04:49:08 02:53:53 08:39:57 12:18  
13 Youri Severin NED 00:48:26 04:41:43 03:11:09 08:45:38 n/a  
14 Daniil Sapunov UKR 00:50:51 04:57:15 03:01:35 08:55:19 12:22  
15 Balazs Csoke HUN 00:48:32 04:48:23 03:15:01 08:57:25 10:18  
16 Mike Schifferle SUI 01:04:25 04:44:16 02:58:59 08:57:45 08:15  
17 Igor Amorelli BRA 00:48:35 04:30:47 03:34:59 08:58:42 30:32  
18 Michael Louys BEL 01:05:31 04:43:21 03:04:05 08:58:45 -14:48  
19 Pascal Ramali GER 01:01:03 04:41:46 03:17:46 09:05:12 34:52  
20 Hywel Davies GBR 01:06:12 04:53:10 02:58:22 09:05:54 -00:04  
21 Julian Mutterer GER 00:52:14 04:37:30 03:32:01 09:06:12 25:32  
22 Maciej Chmura POL 00:52:03 05:04:20 03:07:09 09:08:33 n/a  
23 Young Hwan Oh KOR 01:07:38 04:56:43 02:58:49 09:09:14 -23:47  
24 David Jilek CZE 00:59:10 04:50:53 03:16:34 09:12:07 -10:34  
25 Timothy O’Donnell USA 00:48:31 04:39:34 03:39:55 09:12:58 59:03  
26 Ivan Jezko SVK 01:03:00 04:55:53 03:11:21 09:17:29 -07:20  
27 Vincent Depuiset FRA 01:12:01 05:01:08 03:09:31 09:29:21 -10:41  
28 Ludovic Le Guellec FRA 00:59:31 05:07:34 03:30:30 09:44:37 -08:43  
29 David Krupicka CZE 01:06:26 05:14:39 04:07:11 10:35:07 07:28  
  Joe Gambles AUS 00:48:39 04:48:54   DNF    
  Victor Del Corral ESP 00:59:00 04:42:56   DNF    
  Christian Brader GER 00:58:52 04:49:43   DNF    
  Thomas Bosch GER 00:59:02 04:49:49   DNF    
  Bas Diederen NED 00:48:36 05:18:57   DNF    
  Michal Volejnik CZE 01:03:56 05:10:25   DNF    
  Timo Moeschk GER 01:16:24 05:08:15   DNF    
  Petr Bednar CZE 01:06:25 05:25:27   DNF    
  Marek Nemcik SVK 01:13:48 05:48:50   DNF    
  Ivan Risti ITA 00:48:27     DNF    
  Clemente Alonso McKernan ESP 00:49:09     DNF    
  Marton Flander HUN 00:52:18     DNF    
  Gilian Oriet SUI 00:59:03     DNF    
  Gudmund Snilstveit NOR 01:04:43     DNF    
  Alfred Rahm GER 01:07:52     DNF    

Female Race Results

After pre-race favorite Daniela Ryf was in trouble after getting extremely cold on the swim, Natascha Schmitt was leading the race into T2. But Mel Hauschildt was running a good deal faster and took the lead in the second loop. When even an unjustified stop-and-go penalty on the run couldn’t derail her, she won IM Germany, an Automatic Qualifier slot and continued her streak of being unbeaten in an Ironman (3 wins in 3 starts). There were a lot of late position changes behind Mel, eventually Katja Konschak ran herself into second place with the best run of the day. Daniela Sämmler finished third with a solid bike/run-combo while Natascha Schmitt dropped back into fourth place. Verena Walter in fifth was the fourth German in the Top 5.

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to expected Prize Money
1 Melissa Hauschildt AUS 00:59:15 04:57:10 03:00:12 09:01:17 -06:52 US$ 30000
2 Katja Konschak GER 00:56:05 05:06:45 02:59:29 09:09:58 -36:46 US$ 15000
3 Daniela Saemmler GER 00:58:18 04:56:54 03:12:47 09:13:23 -08:07 US$ 8000
4 Natascha Schmitt GER 00:55:57 04:54:15 03:21:43 09:16:40 -29:42 US$ 6500
5 Verena Walter GER 01:01:45 04:55:49 03:16:04 09:18:58 -24:26 US$ 5000
6 Saleta Castro Nogueira ESP 00:56:58 05:14:53 03:04:54 09:22:41 -28:49 US$ 3500
7 Dimity-Lee Duke AUS 00:59:18 05:06:09 03:19:16 09:30:48 -01:28 US$ 2500
8 Katharina Grohmann GER 01:13:48 05:06:06 03:07:20 09:31:54 -14:05 US$ 2000
9 Bianca Steurer AUT 00:59:19 05:14:46 03:19:14 09:37:59 04:11 US$ 1500
10 Petra Krejcova CZE 01:03:48 05:22:41 03:13:36 09:45:13 -07:34 US$ 1000
11 Celia Kuch GER 01:06:30 05:13:13 03:27:29 09:53:24 -06:06  
12 Caroline Livesey GBR 01:06:36 05:13:13 03:32:34 10:00:24 17:53  
13 Christine Fletcher CAN 01:03:30 05:15:03 03:49:02 10:17:20 21:26  
14 Lotty Harari PAN 01:10:55 05:20:18 03:45:21 10:23:23 n/a  
15 Mariana Andrade BRA 01:00:13 05:15:14 04:17:05 10:37:31 41:12  
  Astrid Stienen GER 01:00:20 05:00:53   DNF    
  Daniela Ryf SUI 00:53:45     DNF    
  Diana Riesler GER       DNF    
  Kristin Möller GER       DNF    

Gallery from Bike Checkin at IM Germany 2016

One day before IM Germany in Frankfurt athletes checked in their bikes into T1 at the “Langener Waldsee”. I was able to see most of them and snap a few pictures. For the whole Pro field, have a look at my predictions post.

At first it was raining quite hard, and athletes improvised ways to cover their bikes. Balasz Csoke used a few plastic bags to protect his drivetrain:

Balascz

Joe Gambles was more focused on covering the saddle and his aerobars:

Joe Gambles

Katharina Grohmann made sure that there weren’t any small stones lodged in her tires:

Katarina

When Celia Kuch dropped off her bike for one of her last Professional IMs, the rain had stopped:

Celia

Mel Hauschildt was smiling when she dropped her bike – she’ll be the big “wild card” tomorrow. Hopefully she’s fit and healthy:

Mel

Male favorite Sebastian Kienle has a new bike for this season with a very clean fronted:

Sebi Front

This year’s color scheme is much smoother than last year:

6a Sebi Color

Shortly after Sebi female favorite Daniela Ryf checked in. Both joked around that Sebi – racing with bib #51 – shouldn’t grab the #1 bike that belongs to Daniela:

Dani

No doubt who owns this bike:

Angry Bird

There will be a close fight for the podium, a lot of German females are eyeing third place and a very likely Kona slot. Among them is run course record holder Kristin Möller:

Kristin

Astrid Stienen has won IM Sweden last year, this year she has been building with a clear focus towards IM Frankfurt:

9 Astrid

Bianca Steurer from Austria is – other than Daniela – the female with the most Kona points in the field. She’ll look for a sixth place to qualify:

Bianca

Mariana Andrade is one of the small Brazilian contingent racing in Frankfurt:

Mariana

Eneko Llanos has won this race in 2013 – but as a late entry he was assigned bib #112:

Eneko

Another nice color scheme on the bike of Russian Pro Daniil Sapunov:

Daniil Sapunov

IM Texas Champion Patrick Lange is also racing, but only as part of a relay for the new title sponsor Mainova:

Patrick

Caroline Livesey

Life Before Turning Pro

ClimbingWhen Caroline Livesey decided to do her first Ironman, she was a Royal Engineer Officer in the British Army stationed in the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. Before joining the Army, she was massively into rock climbing and jokes that she still has “forearms that no sane triathlete needs”. She did a lot of expedition routes in Africa and South America, and the demands of 12 to 15 hour-long days made her incredibly fit. When she joined the Army in 2003, she was one of the fittest in her platoon at officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. She didn’t have a background in swimming or biking, still one of the physical training instructors pointed her towards triathlon. Her “first triathlon was absolutely dreadful”, but she was quickly putting out impressive power on the bike. When she met her future husband Mark in 2007  she started to take triathlon more serious and was fifth in her agegroup at the ITU World Champs in 2008.

(Photo: Caroline on a 2006 climb in Kalymnos, Greece.)

In 2010 the Army sent her to Afghanistan as an Engineer to design and manage infrastructure projects. She had to work in full body armor in the Afghanistan heat and dust.
Recce of damaged bridge

(Photo: Caroline in full gear, reviewing the site of a damaged bridge in Afghanistan.)

Almost anything sounds good compared to Afghanistan, so when her fiancee (now husband) Mark suggested Mexico as the destination for their honeymoon, she quickly accepted – even when Mark casually mentioned doing Ironman Cozumel as part of it. Caroline’s engineering background has taught her to deal with problems, so her training in Afghanistan was on two routes – either the camp perimeter which was less than a kilometer or the helipad which was roughly 400 meters. The bike had to be done on the trainer. She finished Cozumel 2010 in 10:42, Mark even qualified for Kona. She qualified herself with a 10:02 at Texas 2014, broke 10 hours with a 9:46 in Austria and finished third in her agegroup on the Big Island with a 10:13. What was planned as a “one off” experience and only a temporary break from climbing had quickly developed into a quest to find out how good she can be.

2015: First Pro Season

By 2015 Caroline had left the Army and was working as a geotechnical consultant, dealing with projects such as cliff stabilization or building and maintaining dams. Even with a full time job she decided that getting her Pro card was the best way to find out how she measured up against the best women in the sport. As a “rational  engineer” she gives practical reasons for turning Pro (such as easier registration for races), but talking to her it’s clear that that’s not the main reason. Most of the other Professional athletes with a Kona focus are either delaying, suspending or scaling back their career, at least for the time that they are racing professionally, but Caroline loves both her job and racing too much to want to decide between the two. “I don’t want to give up Engineering, I’ve worked so hard to be where I am with my job, so racing as a Pro never meant going full-time. Ironman racing is never going to pay my way – I earn the money in my job so I can go racing. I’m not an Olympic Champion or Ironman Champion such as Jan Frodeno, but it was amazing to sit next to him at the IM Lanzarote press conference in a beautiful hotel. I know that being part of this crazy circus is not going to last, so why not have a good time!”

IMUK PodiumCaroline’s first Pro race was IM South Africa in March 2015. In the deep Regional Championship field she finished in 12th place. She received a lot more attention in her next race when she grabbed her first Pro podium with a 3rd place at IM Lanzarote. She backed that up with her current personal best Pro IM: A 10:05 at IM UK was good enough for a second place behind a dominating Lucy Gossage – a result beyond her “wildest dreams”. At the start of the year she did not think about Kona at all, but after these great results “just one more” good race at 70.3 Wiesbaden would have given her enough points for an August slot. But she was probably exhausted after racing three IMs in the first half of the year – her body wanted to “call it a day and hit the off season with gusto”. After a disappointing 11th place finish she was five spots short of qualifying – similar to a couple of other female Pros who raced well across the year, but just not quite good enough for a slot. Looking back, she realized that she had lacked a plan geared towards qualifying.

(Photo: Caroline (left) on the IM UK podium, Credit: Finisher Pix)

Planning 2016

Caroline started the 2016 season with the clear goal of qualifying for Kona as a Pro. Qualifying for Kona means being ranked as one of the Top 35 female Pros in the Kona Pro Ranking. She is disgusted that there are more Pro slots for the men, making qualifying harder for the women and requiring them to race more often. To be ranked in the Top 35 female Pros she will have to score about 4.500 points in her races. (The actual number will depend on how athletes race and may end up higher or lower, but 4.500 is a good starting point.) To translate this into race results, it corresponds to three third places in “normal” Ironman races (roughly 3.800 points), and some more points from 70.3s. As a male, about 3.500 points are needed to be ranked well enough for a Kona slot, which can be achieved with two podium IM finishes and some more points from 70.3 races. While frustrated about this inequality, she has to work within the rules that Ironman has decided on.

To reach her goal of Kona qualifying, Caroline was well aware that she would need some exceptional races. She planned to race at least four full distance Ironman races, knowing that racing a lot is very hard on the body. As she is still working full-time she has to squeeze her racing into long weekends of unpaid leave – probably not sustainable for the long term. She started to collect points towards Kona 2016 in the fall of 2015 with a podium finish at 70.3 Turkey. As one of her Ironman races she had picked Ironman Malaysia in November 2015. The hot, humid race usually doesn’t attract many athletes and is therefore a good scoring opportunity. However, she couldn’t spend much time getting acclimatized to the conditions, and realized pretty early in the race that she was overheating. She wasn’t able to finish the race and therefore couldn’t improve her KPR ranking. But she quickly turned around to race 70.3 Bahrain just three weeks later. A fifth place finish gave her a total of 1.100 points at the end of 2015. That was pretty much what she needed from 70.3 races (and gave her a slot in the 2016 70.3 World Championships in Mooloolaba, Australia), but she would have to score the bulk of the Kona points in her 2016 Ironman races if she wanted to qualify.

Caroline was optimistic for her first Ironman of 2016 in Lanzarote. After a prep 70.3 race in cold Pays d’Aix her goal was to finish on the podium by racing smart on the bike and then having a strong run. Her swim and bike went well (she biked 14 minutes faster than a year ago) and she was in fourth place at the start of the run.

CarolineLanza
(Photo: Caroline on the IM Lanzarote bike course. Credit: James Mitchell Photography/Club la Santa)

But a couple of athletes had great runs while she struggled to hold her pace. She ended up in fifth place after promising herself on the run to retire from the sport. Her husband Mark was able to qualify as an age grouper in Lanzarote, and just one night after the race Caroline was back to being highly motivated to qualify as well. She had registered for Ironman France which gave her only two weeks of recovery. Even with lots of work and last minute travel planning she tried to make the most of it. But her race in France was similar to Lanzarote – after a good swim and bike (her fastest IM bike leg so far) she was within minutes of Leanda Cave who was in third place. The first 10k went well: She made up one place and was closing the gap to Leanda, but at around 15k she started to struggle. After the second of four run loops she had dropped back to eighth place and she decided to call it a day in order to save the legs for the next race.

Before Ironman Frankfurt

Caroline’s next race is Ironman Frankfurt – the fourth Ironman start in her quest towards Kona 2016 qualifying. In the Kona Pro Ranking she is at 1.870 points, and she could secure a Kona slot by finishing third (=2.890 points). However, that is an unrealistic goal for her in the strong and deep field in Frankfurt. More realistic goals for her are to finish “in the money” (Frankfurt is paying 10 deep) and to set a new Ironman PR on the fast Frankfurt course – currently her best Pro time is 10:05 from Ironman UK 2015 (she also has a 9:46 from Austria 2014 as an agegrouper). But I think the main goal for her should be to have “a good race”, one where she can still race well in the second half of the run and make up some places. If she manages to do that, she should also score well in the Regional Championship race (for example a seventh place is 1.335 points, similar to a third place in a “normal” IM). With good points from Frankfurt I’m sure she’ll continue to work to qualify for Kona – even if it means to race her fifth Ironman of the season before the final cutoff in August!

All photos supplied by Caroline.

Ironman Austria 2016 – Analyzing Results

Race Conditions

Austria is a fast course, and the bike and run times were as quick as any year. However, the swim was very slow this year (adjustment of -3:27 compared to swim rating of 1:54 before this year’s race) – about five minutes slower than normal! The non-wetsuit conditions may have had an influence, but five minutes seems a pretty large difference for that.

After the slower swim, Mirinda Carfrae made the most of the fast “on land” conditions – she missed the bike course record by only four minutes, then set a new run record of 2:49:06 and also a new overall course record of 8:41:17.

Male Race Results

The pre-race favorite, Marino Vanhoenacker had another great race in Austria – he remains unbeaten in Klagenfurt as the eight times winner.

Marino Austria Bike

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to expected Prize Money
1 Marino Vanhoenacker BEL 00:52:38 04:19:56 02:47:13 08:04:18 -04:43 US$ 14000
2 Viktor Zyemtsev USA 00:52:49 04:32:36 02:39:57 08:09:54 -15:07 US$ 7000
3 Alessandro Degasperi ITA 00:52:39 04:32:39 02:42:58 08:13:53 -05:38 US$ 4500
4 Michael Weiss AUT 00:56:16 04:21:04 02:51:57 08:14:45 -01:40 US$ 3000
5 Bart Aernouts BEL 00:56:48 04:28:27 02:46:42 08:16:32 01:45 US$ 2500
6 Paul Reitmayr AUT 00:52:42 04:24:08 02:58:34 08:19:52 n/a US$ 2000
7 Denis Sketako SLO 00:56:08 04:29:29 02:54:20 08:24:23 -31:19 US$ 1500
8 Matic Modic SLO 00:56:55 04:41:32 02:46:11 08:29:39 -18:14 US$ 1250
9 Pavel Simko SVK 00:55:27 04:33:04 03:04:37 08:38:14 n/a US$ 1000
10 Bart Borghs BEL 01:04:51 04:48:08 02:53:29 08:52:00 n/a US$ 750
11 Thiago Vinhal BRA 00:52:34 04:56:36 02:59:31 08:54:21 08:25
12 Lluis Vila aguilar ESP 01:01:24 04:50:10 03:02:00 08:58:18 n/a
13 Michael Louys BEL 01:08:23 04:40:08 03:07:12 09:02:02 -16:10
14 Christoph Schlagbauer AUT 01:01:19 04:47:28 03:12:03 09:05:40 -1:18:49
15 Harri Sokk EST 01:01:08 04:47:06 03:11:58 09:06:39 -05:38
16 Joan Capdevila ESP 01:01:38 04:51:40 03:06:12 09:07:15 n/a
17 David Jilek CZE 01:01:25 04:47:17 03:13:27 09:07:53 -21:55
18 Xavier Torrades ESP 00:52:44 04:37:31 03:34:42 09:09:41 26:51
19 Nicholas Chase USA 00:55:48 04:50:35 03:21:38 09:13:19 n/a
20 Vincent Riess AUT 00:55:23 04:53:16 03:23:43 09:19:03 28:04
21 Juha Laitinen FIN 01:08:29 04:56:26 03:07:01 09:19:05 -39:16
22 Gergö Molnar HUN 00:52:45 04:46:05 03:37:37 09:21:31 30:36
23 Gili Oriol ESP 01:01:29 05:01:35 03:19:38 09:29:04 -16:46
24 Stephan Trettin GER 01:05:50 04:48:37 03:32:55 09:32:22 -25:40
25 Ludovic Le Guellec FRA 01:02:30 05:20:18 03:23:16 09:54:29 00:19
26 Reinaldo De Oliveira BRA 01:03:49 05:09:41 03:43:08 10:05:05 -03:55
27 Maximilian Gruber AUT 01:16:24 05:16:33 03:33:18 10:13:22 n/a
28 Markus Mlinar AUT 01:05:19 04:57:08 04:18:59 10:27:56 1:12:10
29 David Krupicka CZE 01:09:00 05:09:49 04:02:32 10:28:58 n/a
30 Michal Jalovecky CZE 01:08:55 05:45:42 03:29:41 10:30:45 04:53
31 Josef Svoboda CZE 01:23:00 05:22:29 03:47:30 10:44:12 -58:01
32 Marek Nemcik SVK 01:16:12 05:46:03 04:04:33 11:15:12 -27:36
Antony Costes FRA 00:52:36 04:24:20 DNF
Christian Birngruber AUT 00:56:13 04:28:42 DNF
Paul Ruttmann AUT 01:01:33 04:36:48 DNF
Andreas Fuchs AUT 01:04:39 04:48:52 DNF
Martin Kleinl AUT 01:09:18 04:45:29 DNF
Freddy Lampret ZAF 00:55:36 05:00:38 DNF
Ivan Jezko SVK 01:05:02 04:52:47 DNF
Albert Garces ESP 01:11:03 05:03:11 DNF
Oliver Simon GBR 00:56:19 DNF
Alen Kralj SVN 01:02:11 DNF
Santiago Abad de Agueda ESP 01:05:20 DNF

A few Kona slots are safe after Austria: Bart Aernouts, Alessandro Degasperri and Michael Weiss should have enough points for a July slot.

Female Race Results

Rinny Austria FinishKaren Thibodeau was first out of the water, but Miranda Carfrae wasn’t too far behind. She had a great bike ride: the fastest of the day and in fact all of 2016 so far, only four minutes off the course record held by Diana Riesler from 2011. She then had one of the runs she is famous for: Her 2:49:06 marathon is of course a new record, the fastest of the year and a personal best for her. Only Chrissie Wellington has run faster than her with a 2:44:35 (Roth 2011) and a 2:48:54 (Roth 2010). Ronny’s total time of 8:41:17 is of course the fastest time of this year, a new course record and the 11th fastest time over the IM-distance. Rinny made a big statement that she’s still a force to reckon with in Kona and obviously very happy with her race.

With Michi Herlbauer (also going sub-9!) and Lisi Gruber two Austrians picked up the other podium spots.

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to expected Prize Money
1 Mirinda Carfrae AUS 00:59:15 04:47:38 02:49:06 08:41:17 -14:32 US$ 14000
2 Michaela Herlbauer AUT 00:59:14 04:53:47 02:59:22 08:57:23 -25:40 US$ 7000
3 Elisabeth Gruber AUT 01:06:31 05:03:23 03:01:57 09:17:20 -03:58 US$ 4500
4 Amber Ferreira USA 01:01:39 04:59:05 03:26:28 09:34:51 -02:37 US$ 3000
5 Michaela Rudolf AUT 01:08:41 05:05:40 03:23:43 09:43:59 -00:48 US$ 2500
6 Karen Thibodeau CAN 00:57:32 05:15:58 03:25:41 09:44:43 04:37 US$ 2000
7 Jana Candrova CZE 01:12:51 05:14:52 03:34:09 10:08:36 -10:07 US$ 1500

Among the Austria finishers, only Mirinda Carfrae can plan for Kona: She validated her Automatic Qualifier slot.

(Photo Credit: Getty Images for Ironman)

Ironman Germany 2016 (July 3rd) – Predictions

IMFraLogoUpdate June 28th: Miranda Carfrae has won IM Austria, so she is unlikely to race in Frankfurt.

Update June 28th: For the interesting back story of Caroline Livesey, please have a look at my profile on her.

Update July 1st: After the Pro Meeting, it’s clear that a number of athletes from the original startlist won’t be racing. I’ve crossed out all of those who have not signed in.

Previous Winners

Year Male Winner Time Female Winner Time
2005 Normann Stadler (GER) 08:20:50 Lisa Bentley (CAN) 09:15:31
2006 Cameron Brown (NZL) 08:13:40 Andrea Steinbecher (GER) 09:16:17
2007 Timo Bracht (GER) 08:09:15 Nicole Leder (GER) 09:04:11
2008 Chris McCormack (AUS) 07:59:55 Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 08:51:24
2009 Timo Bracht (GER) 07:59:15 Sandra Wallenhorst (GER) 08:58:08
2010 Andreas Raelert (GER) 08:05:15 Sandra Wallenhorst (GER) 09:04:27
2011 Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 08:13:50 Caroline Steffen (SUI) 09:12:13
2012 Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 08:03:31 Caroline Steffen (SUI) 08:52:33
2013 Eneko Llanos (ESP) 07:59:58 Camilla Pedersen (DEN) 08:56:01
2014 Sebastian Kienle (GER) 07:55:14 Corinne Abraham (GBR) 08:52:40
2015 Jan Frodeno (GER) 07:49:48 Daniela Ryf (SUI) 08:51:00

Last Year’s TOP 3

Male Race Results

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time
1 Jan Frodeno GER 00:46:02 04:08:43 02:50:49 07:49:48
2 Sebastian Kienle GER 00:50:03 04:11:07 02:56:44 08:01:39
3 Andi Boecherer GER 00:46:56 04:14:05 02:58:14 08:03:49

Female Race Results

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time
1 Daniela Ryf SUI 00:52:46 04:47:50 03:06:06 08:51:00
2 Julia Gajer GER 00:52:47 04:55:22 03:09:04 09:01:58
3 Caroline Steffen SUI 00:52:42 04:58:52 03:16:26 09:11:55

Course Records

Leg Gender Record Athlete Date
Total overall 07:49:48 Jan Frodeno 2015-07-05
Swim overall 00:42:17 Jan Sibbersen 2004-07-12
Bike overall 04:08:43 Jan Frodeno 2015-07-05
Run overall 02:42:33 Timo Bracht 2008-07-06
Total female 08:51:00 Daniela Ryf 2015-07-05
Swim female 00:45:04 Amanda Stevens 2012-07-08
Bike female 04:44:25 Natascha Badmann 2014-07-06
Run female 02:57:13 Kristin Moeller 2013-07-07

Course Rating

The Course Rating for IM Germany is 11:53.

Race Adjustments for IM Germany

Year Adjustment Swim Adj. Bike Adj. Run Adj. # of Finishers Rating Swim Rating Bike Rating Run Rating
2005 -03:26 00:41 04:40 -04:09 21 -03:26 00:41 04:40 -04:09
2006 12:14 n/a n/a n/a 21 04:24 00:41 04:40 -04:09
2007 20:42 01:41 14:05 04:59 35 09:50 01:11 09:23 00:25
2008 23:08 04:28 08:29 06:33 21 of 28 13:10 02:17 09:05 02:28
2009 17:33 02:56 13:26 -00:13 19 of 25 14:02 02:27 10:10 01:48
2010 08:27 00:46 04:58 01:02 30 13:06 02:07 09:08 01:38
2011 08:18 01:28 05:50 01:11 41 12:25 02:00 08:35 01:34
2012 09:31 03:13 04:27 00:45 37 12:03 02:11 07:59 01:27
2013 16:32 02:16 09:16 05:09 69 12:33 02:11 08:09 01:55
2014 12:34 01:59 13:41 01:46 39 of 56 12:33 02:10 08:46 01:54
2015 05:12 -00:29 08:34 -02:32 32 of 44 11:53 01:54 08:45 01:27

KPR points and Prize Money

IM Germany is a P-4000 race and the winners receive an Automatic Qualifier slot. It has a total prize purse of 150.000 US$.

Female Race Participants

Rank Bib Name Nation Expected Time Rating Exp. Swim Exp. Bike Exp. Run Consistency Overall
1 1 Daniela Ryf SUI 08:46:44 08:59:41 00:50:15 04:47:35 03:03:55 100% +0% -0% (5) 1
2 2 Mirinda Carfrae AUS 08:54:21 09:08:15 00:53:21 05:00:05 02:55:55 32% +20% -49% (13) (3)
3 32 Melissa Hauschildt AUS 09:05:44 09:32:16 00:53:28 04:57:45 03:09:32 39% +61% -0% (2) (35)
4 8 Diana Riesler GER 09:14:17 09:31:45 00:55:37 04:54:17 03:19:22 46% +14% -40% (18) 32
5 4 Kristin Moeller GER 09:16:01 09:35:55 01:00:27 05:09:43 03:00:51 83% +15% -2% (17) 40
6 23 Astrid Stienen GER 09:22:04 09:46:33 00:56:11 05:00:11 03:20:42 54% +15% -31% (8) 62
7 6 Daniela Saemmler GER 09:23:10 09:40:22 00:53:09 05:04:09 03:20:52 85% +0% -15% (7) 49
8 33 Emma Bilham SUI 09:23:55 09:48:12 00:52:41 05:09:03 03:17:11 n/a (1 IM Pro race) (65)
9 25 Katja Konschak GER 09:29:51 09:59:46 00:50:08 05:19:26 03:15:17 51% +25% -24% (15) 89
10 5 Natascha Schmitt GER 09:31:11 10:11:37 00:51:41 05:19:17 03:15:14 36% +16% -48% (5) 111
11 12 Dimity-Lee Duke AUS 09:36:13 09:45:48 00:58:44 05:12:05 03:20:23 76% +24% -0% (9) 61
12 22 Bianca Steurer AUT 09:36:29 09:53:23 00:56:02 05:15:36 03:19:51 74% +26% -0% (4) 77
13 27 Carolin Lehrieder GER 09:36:31 09:57:37 00:52:54 05:16:08 03:22:28 30% +23% -46% (6) 84
14 24 Verena Walter GER 09:38:18 10:02:37 00:57:21 05:09:29 03:26:28 53% +29% -18% (5) 94
15 7 Evi Neuscheler GER 09:38:32 09:55:05 01:01:03 05:05:03 03:27:25 60% +40% -0% (3) (80)
16 10 Saleta Castro Nogueira ESP 09:43:39 10:17:00 00:53:41 05:19:02 03:25:56 39% +35% -26% (9) 119
17 14 Katharina Grohmann GER 09:44:32 10:05:32 01:07:59 05:12:03 03:19:30 100% +0% -0% (11) 100
18 19 Caroline Livesey GBR 09:48:44 10:08:45 00:58:33 05:15:25 03:29:45 61% +0% -39% (6) 106
19 26 Mariana Andrade BRA 09:50:16 10:17:33 00:58:04 05:14:04 03:33:08 14% +49% -37% (11) 124
20 13 Christine Fletcher CAN 09:57:34 10:10:32 00:56:42 05:19:25 03:36:27 92% +8% -0% (20) 109
21 17 Petra Krejcova CZE 09:59:14 10:25:02 01:00:50 05:33:11 03:20:12 n/a (1 IM Pro race) (151)
22 9 Celia Kuch GER 10:01:26 10:19:42 01:01:38 05:18:07 03:36:41 79% +21% -0% (17) 132
23 16 Helena Herrero Gomez ESP 10:06:14 10:30:23 00:58:33 05:42:18 03:20:23 25% +0% -75% (5) 160
24 29 Nicole Woysch GER 10:07:46 10:54:33 00:55:54 05:16:16 03:50:36 22% +3% -75% (21) (174)
25 28 Nina Kuhn GER 10:09:26 10:35:41 00:59:08 05:28:28 03:36:50 62% +0% -38% (2) (167)
26 18 Angela Kuehnlein GER 10:11:22 10:29:50 01:00:19 05:31:55 03:34:08 34% +27% -39% (5) 158
15 Lotty Harari PAN n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (no IM Pro race) (n/a)

Male Race Participants

Rank Bib Name Nation Expected Time Rating Exp. Swim Exp. Bike Exp. Run Consistency Overall
1 51 Sebastian Kienle GER 08:00:16 08:14:29 00:48:15 04:14:21 02:52:41 85% +12% -3% (11) 3
2 53 Andi Boecherer GER 08:05:01 08:32:01 00:45:14 04:16:44 02:58:04 58% +39% -3% (12) 27
3 55 Bas Diederen NED 08:08:01 08:30:09 00:45:55 04:23:46 02:53:19 42% +10% -48% (15) 22
4 60 Clemente Alonso McKernan ESP 08:10:13 08:30:56 00:45:24 04:30:23 02:49:27 56% +14% -31% (13) (24)
5 56 Timothy O’Donnell USA 08:11:14 08:27:01 00:45:57 04:27:30 02:52:47 14% +63% -23% (11) 16
6 112 Eneko Llanos ESP 08:12:39 08:23:10 00:46:14 04:22:39 02:58:46 90% +0% -10% (24) 8
7 90 Michael Weiss AUT 08:18:24 08:32:17 00:52:25 04:23:07 02:57:52 89% +11% -0% (13) 28
8 72 Christian Kramer GER 08:20:53 08:38:43 00:45:49 04:30:47 02:59:17 72% +6% -22% (17) 53
9 62 Denis Chevrot FRA 08:23:32 08:36:57 00:45:20 04:36:20 02:56:52 32% +12% -55% (8) 46
10 69 Joe Gambles AUS 08:23:57 08:40:16 00:46:53 04:32:54 02:59:10 44% +7% -50% (7) (56)
11 59 Marko Albert EST 08:25:34 08:36:12 00:45:25 04:33:42 03:01:27 91% +6% -3% (14) 42
12 97 Victor Del Corral ESP 08:26:28 08:34:42 00:53:44 04:36:06 02:51:38 70% +0% -30% (13) 39
13 115 Igor Amorelli BRA 08:27:12 08:46:09 00:46:03 04:33:37 03:02:31 41% +15% -44% (9) 74
14 58 Johann Ackermann GER 08:27:16 08:58:33 00:47:05 04:30:52 03:04:19 26% +0% -74% (6) (115)
15 94 Marc Duelsen GER 08:27:31 08:46:01 00:50:09 04:32:57 02:59:25 60% +0% -40% (6) (72)
16 116 Jeremy Jurkiewicz FRA 08:29:41 08:45:10 00:45:58 04:41:34 02:57:09 62% +0% -38% (11) (70)
17 61 Alberto Casadei ITA 08:31:58 08:48:52 00:45:53 04:42:46 02:58:19 38% +16% -46% (7) 83
18 96 Anton Blokhin UKR 08:35:14 08:57:29 00:47:13 04:39:45 03:03:16 56% +3% -42% (19) 112
19 67 Herve Faure FRA 08:35:46 08:50:23 00:49:29 04:38:02 03:03:15 45% +0% -55% (8) (88)
20 70 Esben Hovgaard DEN 08:36:37 08:55:54 00:51:54 04:36:51 03:02:52 35% +25% -40% (9) 105
21 85 Pascal Ramali GER 08:36:51 09:04:29 00:56:57 04:31:01 03:03:52 49% +0% -51% (2) (146)
22 117 Markus Thomschke GER 08:37:14 08:57:39 00:51:25 04:32:26 03:08:22 62% +12% -26% (15) 113
23 87 Sylvain Sudrie FRA 08:41:00 09:03:26 00:48:03 04:41:30 03:06:26 53% +0% -47% (2) (138)
24 109 Gudmund Snilstveit NOR 08:41:33 08:59:30 00:54:57 04:34:15 03:07:21 61% +28% -11% (7) 122
25 111 Christian Brader GER 08:41:36 08:54:08 00:54:20 04:43:57 02:58:19 84% +6% -10% (32) 97
26 104 Roman Deisenhofer GER 08:43:12 09:05:52 00:51:16 04:37:03 03:09:53 38% +62% -0% (4) 152
27 120 Bertrand Billard FRA 08:44:43 09:09:16 00:47:37 04:35:24 03:16:42 9% +17% -73% (7) 163
28 78 Matic Modic SLO 08:44:54 09:04:24 00:53:13 04:42:02 03:04:39 47% +39% -13% (6) 144
29 95 Mike Schifferle SUI 08:45:13 09:02:15 00:57:54 04:39:38 03:02:41 84% +12% -4% (54) 130
30 68 Marton Flander HUN 08:45:59 09:08:38 00:47:32 04:55:17 02:58:10 n/a (1 IM Pro race) (161)
31 80 Julian Mutterer GER 08:47:05 09:09:47 00:50:07 04:48:11 03:03:47 n/a (1 IM Pro race) (166)
32 86 Daniil Sapunov UKR 08:49:05 09:11:52 00:46:52 04:50:28 03:06:45 n/a (1 IM Pro race) (175)
33 121 Ivan Risti ITA 08:51:27 09:06:43 00:47:39 04:47:41 03:11:07 77% +0% -23% (5) 154
34 114 Will Clarke GBR 08:52:22 09:20:51 00:48:30 04:40:17 03:18:36 37% +0% -63% (2) (198)
35 79 Gergö Molnar HUN 08:53:51 09:08:36 00:48:27 04:47:39 03:12:45 58% +0% -42% (6) 160
36 92 Denis Sketako SLO 08:57:28 09:17:42 00:56:11 04:44:23 03:11:54 100% +0% -0% (2) (194)
37 119 Michael Davidson ZAF 08:58:39 09:13:32 00:54:43 04:50:54 03:08:01 54% +0% -46% (4) 179
38 65 Hywel Davies GBR 09:08:26 09:24:30 00:57:44 04:51:17 03:14:24 95% +5% -0% (6) (206)
39 75 Felipe De Oliveira Manente BRA 09:11:33 09:37:20 00:51:38 04:55:42 03:19:14 18% +7% -75% (8) 241
40 71 Ivan Jezko SVK 09:12:21 09:43:49 00:57:39 04:52:49 03:16:53 39% +33% -28% (9) 254
41 74 Michael Louys BEL 09:15:03 09:35:44 00:59:56 04:49:47 03:20:20 55% +15% -30% (7) 238
42 110 Thomas Bosch GER 09:18:47 09:42:50 00:57:32 04:59:28 03:16:47 n/a (1 IM Pro race) (252)
43 82 Young Hwan Oh KOR 09:20:37 09:57:49 00:59:20 04:59:04 03:17:12 22% +32% -46% (4) (272)
44 118 Eneko Elosegui ESP 09:20:54 09:38:41 00:56:10 04:47:39 03:32:06 73% +25% -1% (14) 246
45 84 Alfred Rahm GER 09:27:15 09:50:54 01:02:06 04:58:10 03:21:59 60% +1% -40% (17) 263
46 113 Lukas Polan CZE 09:30:04 09:56:55 01:00:12 04:59:39 03:25:12 30% +15% -55% (9) 271
47 73 Ludovic Le Guellec FRA 09:32:29 10:13:14 00:59:17 05:13:05 03:15:07 56% +5% -39% (18) 285
48 107 David Jilek CZE 09:33:15 09:53:28 00:57:29 04:57:06 03:33:39 74% +0% -26% (5) 266
49 83 Gilian Oriet SUI 09:37:53 09:54:53 00:55:39 05:01:05 03:36:09 26% +12% -62% (9) 268
50 66 Vincent Depuiset FRA 09:38:52 09:59:28 01:06:36 05:05:10 03:22:06 66% +15% -19% (7) 276
51 91 Remmert Wielinga NED 10:00:03 10:52:28 01:10:06 04:57:28 03:47:29 7% +11% -82% (6) (298)
52 89 Michal Volejnik CZE 10:54:41 11:22:52 01:01:30 05:16:11 04:32:00 n/a (1 IM Pro race) (303)
53 81 Marek Nemcik SVK 11:26:49 12:04:43 01:09:16 05:38:51 04:33:42 39% +20% -41% (33) 303
63 Maciej Chmura POL n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (no IM Pro race) (n/a)
77 Rayco Marrero Avero ESP n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (1 IM Pro race) (n/a)
88 Kevin Thewes GER n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (no IM Pro race) (n/a)
98 Olivier Esser BEL n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (no IM Pro race) (n/a)
99 David Krupicka CZE n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (no IM Pro race) (n/a)
105 Alexander Schilling GER n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (no IM Pro race) (n/a)
106 Youri Severin NED n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (no IM Pro race) (n/a)
108 Petr Bednar CZE n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (no IM Pro race) (n/a)
122 Timo Moeschk GER n/a unrated unrated unrated unrated n/a (no IM Pro race) (n/a)

KPR Situation

Female Race Participants

Similar to Sebi, all Daniela needs to make it to Kona is to finish an Ironman. As there are only 28 July slots for the women, they need about 4.500 points to qualify.

Emma Bilham (3.515) and Bianca Steuerer (3.235) are the best placed athletes, they should be okay with a sixth place. Dimity-Lee Duke already has five results, so even with her 3.330 points she needs to finish fifth – as do Kristin Möller and Diana Riesler. Daniela Sämmler (2.400) and Verena Walter (2.510) are looking for a fourth place. The next group needs a podium finish – Mariana Andrade, Katharina Grohmann, Caroline Livesey, Natascha Schmitt and Astrid Stienen all have between 2.100 and 1.500 points.

Male Race Participants

Before Frankfurt, a lot of athletes are looking to score well in order to get the points needed to qualify. Eneko Llanos is the only athlete who is already safe for Kona, he wants to race Frankfurt to work on his race plan. Sebastian Kienle, Tim O’Donnell and probably Andi Boecherer just need an Ironman finish in order to be eligible for a July slot.

Next up is a group of athletes that are close to the projected cutoff of 3.500 points: Michael Weiss (3.470) and Markus Thomschke (3.130) are closest but already have five results. Similar to Marko Albert (3.095) they should be okay with a 9th place (855 points). The French group of Jeremy Jurkiewicz, Bertrand Billard and Denis Chevrot are around 2.400 points, they have to look for a seventh place (1.335 points). There is another group around 2.000 points (Christian Kramer who also has five results already, Victor Del Corral, Joe Gambles, Clemente Alsonso) they probably need a 6th or better (1.670).

Winning Odds

Female Race Participants

Mirinda Carfrae is on the startlist, but probably only as a backup for Austria the week before. Therefore a showdown with Kona champion Daniela Ryf will likely have to wait until October. Even with Rinny on the start line, Dani is the clear favorite and if she is anywhere close to last year’s form, there is no doubt that she will continue her winning streak. If anyone is going to challenge her, it could be Mel Hauschildt. She has been injured for some time, she is rumored to be in a really good bike shape and hopefully she’ll be able to run well on race day.

After last year’s second place by Julia Gajer, a lot of German women are eying the podium: Diana Riesler didn’t have a good race at Lanzarote, Kristin Möller still needs more points after a fifth place in Brasil, Astrid Stienen has had a long focused build towards Frankfurt this year and Daniela Sämmler wants to show that her win at IM Mallorca was just a step on her way to Kona.

  • Daniela Ryf: 45% (1-1)
  • Mirinda Carfrae: 30% (2-1)
  • Diana Riesler: 8% (11-1)
  • Melissa Hauschildt: 8% (12-1)

Male Race Participants

Sebastian Kienle, 2014 winner of IM Frankfurt and IM Hawaii, is back in Frankfurt to reclaim the first of the titles he lost to Jan Frodeno last year. Sebi is the favorite going into the race but he faces strong competition. Last year Andi Boecherer had a great race to finish in third, this year his prep races have been going well and he seems to be ready to challenge Sebi. Tim O’Donnell is an interesting addition to the field – after his second place in Kona he wants to show he can race well against the Germans in their home country. Bas Diederen has raced well in Frankfurt a number of times, and the 2013 champion Eneko Llanos has hopefully figured out his stomach issues on the run. I’m be pretty sure that it’s going to take at least a sub-8 finish to win the race – even if Frodo’s course record from last year will be hard to beat.

  • Sebastian Kienle: 45% (1-1)
  • Andi Boecherer: 18% (4-1)
  • Clemente Alonso McKernan: 12% (8-1)
  • Bas Diederen: 8% (11-1)
  • Timothy O’Donnell: 7% (14-1)
  • Eneko Llanos: 3% (30-1)
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